Seeing is Believing

I've enjoyed reading Errol Morris' columns in the NYT, so when I saw he'd written a new book, Seeing is Believing, I checked it out of the library. Each of the sections explores a controversial photo from history and fills in the backstory of why the photograph became controversial and explores each as a basis for discussing the question of photographic authenticity.

People find photographs compelling and convincing -- yet, at the same time, understand intuitively that photographs can be misleading. Photographs can be staged or altered. And even a photograph that reflects a truth on the ground, can say as much by what it excludes as what it shows.

In each scenario, Morris explores the psychology of a documentary photographer and, in one case, interviews the photographer directly. In every case, the narrative gave me a lot of insight into how photographers operate and how the constraints have changed over time. Worth reading.